20 Best Hotels in St. Martin and St. Maarten

Bordered by a pristine, white-sand beach, the island's top luxury resort offers professional but warm service, chic accommodations, beachfront cabanas, and an infinity pool. Rooms and smaller suites are smartly designed with modern upgrades and private balconies or terraces. Some of the larger specialty suites have plunge pools, rooftop solariums, and kitchenettes. Expansive three- or four-bedroom villas offer enough privacy and luxury to please even the pickiest moguls. The serene spa surrounded by a lush garden with a waterfall, has treatment rooms featuring a private outdoor area with a shower. Activities include tennis, water sports, yoga in the workout facility, and dining in two restaurants (one on the beach, one in the main house). Promotions may include meals, rental cars, and airport transfers.

Bordering gorgeous Little Bay, this property is awash with water-sports options and restaurants and has an awesome multilevel pool with breathtaking views of neighboring islands. Rooms, suites, and studios, including the more luxurious units in the Oceans section, have contemporary style with pops of Caribbean color. Full-size apartments in the time-share section have granite kitchen countertops and modern bathrooms. The resort provides concierge service for a spectrum of great island activities. It's also a quick trip to the heart of Philipsburg. If you think you would enjoy watching the cruise ships arrive, ask for a bay-front unit. Families like the casitas. Expect some construction nearby, but it should not impact your stay at all. 

Guests return year after year to the classy, loft-style suites of this immaculate family-owned and -operated boutique hotel on a hill overlooking Grand Case village and harbor. Units are tastefully decorated in dark wood, tropics-style, with big four-poster beds and terraces that offer stunning sunset and bay views. Kitchens are sleek and stocked with basics before you arrive, and bathrooms have chic waterfall shower heads and double vessel sinks. The nicely designed spa is in a lovely pavilion, which is the site of free morning yoga classes. The heated pool and its swim-up bar are in a picturesque garden that's the place to be for cocktails.

This quaint, colonial-style hotel is full of charm, with spacious junior, master, and multibedroom villa suites and a wraparound veranda that offers expansive bay views. Poolside Le Sud restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Attractive promotions are available, especially during the slower months (summer and fall).

The romantic beachfront units of this hôtel de charme are steps from the fun of Baie Orientale yet private, quiet, and stylish. The immaculate, spacious rooms have accessories and color schemes that suggest Morocco; all have a fridge, a microwave, and a big balcony with loungers. There's an attractive pool in the manicured garden and a palapa where breakfast is served. The upper-floor units have water views, but lower-level units offer immediate access to the pool and garden. Guests get signing privileges at all the related beach bars. 

Despite its name, this time-share resort property is, indeed, tucked away on Pelican Key, bordering both the bay and the ocean, giving you a front-row seat for island sunsets from your terrace. The attractive studios and one- and two-bedroom suites have flat-screen TVs and fully equipped kitchens with granite countertops; many also have sleeper sofas. Kids can enjoy multiple pools or a playground while grown-ups head to the on-site spa. La Patrona, an award-winning authentic Mexican Restaurant, serves traditional American breakfasts daily, full lunches, and excellent dinners—plus brunch on Sunday. The Replay sports bar has many screens and a menu of sandwiches, pizza, and well-crafted sushi.

Lush foliage in the glassed-in lobby—hence the name—makes a great first impression at this resort, a good base for island explorations and within walking distance of many bars and restaurants. All the spacious suites and studios are open to the lobby and have lagoon or ocean views, though first-floor rooms can be noisy. Kitchenettes are equipped with microwaves, refrigerators, and ice makers. There are plenty of activities for kids.

On a serene stretch of Simpson Bay Beach, this colorful boutique hotel has just eight kitchenette-equipped rooms—some with garden views, others with ocean views, and all of them unique and just steps from the shore. Other amenities include Wi-Fi, cable TV, air-conditioning, and nearby parking (on the dead-end street that terminates at Simpson Bay Beach). Although there's no on-site restaurant, dozens of eateries are just a short, tranquil walk away.

Be lulled to sleep by the sounds of the ocean in one of the spacious units of this tidy complex set on a sliver of Grand Case Beach. Studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments (the biggest accommodates six people) all have great views—with big sliding-glass doors to showcase them—and are beautifully furnished with blue or green accents. Apartments are accessible to those in wheelchairs by elevator, and there is both outdoor and indoor parking. You can request a crib or high chair, but availability is limited.

Esmeralda has traditional, Caribbean-style, kitchen-equipped villas, each with its own pool and all just steps from the beach. The activities desk can arrange everything from snorkeling and tennis to car rentals and babysitting, and signing privileges are offered at some restaurants and outfitters on the Baie Orientale beach. The resort restaurant, L'Astrolabe, which offers breakfast plus fine dining for dinner, is a long-time island favorite.

Not only does this resort have a stellar location—on a small peninsula, with access to Grand Case Beach on one side and Petite Plage on the other and views of Anguilla and Creole Rock in the distance—it also has many amenities, including free Wi-Fi, a fitness facility, a pool, and a small spa. Each of the spacious, well-appointed studio and one- or two-bedroom units has a balcony. Room service is available from the on-site Sunset Café.

Rebranded and updated after Hurricane Irma, Hommage offers a modern, art-filled escape with spacious, bright, and airy rooms. Amenities include a large pool with a separate kids' section and a water-sports center that offers motorized activities like Jet Skiing.

Hibiscus and bougainvillea line the brick walkways connecting the bungalows and beachfront suites of this intimate, friendly, family-owned time-share resort perched at the foot of Pelican Key. Accommodations have small bathrooms, but the balconies have awesome views; definitely go for a deluxe room on an upper floor. The beach is rocky but good for snorkeling—and fantastic for sunsets. There's a great little on-site restaurant, the Hideaway, plus several other restaurants close by. The street leads to a residential neighborhood so the area is generally quiet at night. Get the best weather and best rates here in July.

This classic property on 148 acres of lush gardens borders the exceptionally beautiful and secluded beach in Anse Marcel. The modern rooms have lots of efficient and thoughtful touches like glass shelves with plugs for electronics, ample his-and-hers closets and dressing areas, high-tech kitchenettes, flat-screen TVs, and in-room safes that can accommodate laptops. Most have round whirlpool tubs for two. If you like the French Riviera or St. Barth, you will love the pool area, which seems lifted directly from a hotel in Nice. Perched above the sweeping arc of sand are chic lounge-beds around the convivial bar, where you can lunch or even have a massage in a tented cabana. Three restaurants, one of them a beach bar, serve beachy classics with a French flair.

A shaded courtyard welcomes you to this quirky, informal guesthouse, where studio and one- or two-bedroom units have been updated but still have an old Caribbean feel. If you like the idea of watching huge planes take off and land, you'll love it here—pilot Mary Pomeroy chose this site because of its proximity to the airport (ask someone to tell you about her life and her mysterious disappearance). Units have flat-screen TVs, windows that have wooden shutters with screens, cathedral ceilings, enormous beds, and verandahs. Each unit is a bit different, so make your preferences known when you reserve. The on-site restaurant is quite popular on Sunday.

Accommodations that range from studios to large two-bedroom units at this condo/time-share resort have Caribbean-style decor, dishwasher-equipped kitchens, baths with granite vanities, and balconies with fine views of St. Barth or the marina in Oyster Pond. Some units also have their own whirlpool tubs. Guests like to congregate in the open-air lobby or by the infinity pool, and there's a long list of activities.

Perched on a hill well above the Atlantic, this property offers spacious, contemporary studio and one- or two-bedroom units that have pillow-top mattresses, kitchenettes with stainless-steel appliances, granite bathrooms with jetted tubs and rain showers, and balustraded balconies that afford smashing views of St. Barth. A second, more recent building has even nicer rooms and elevators. For a fee, staffers will stock your refrigerator prior to arrival.

It might be slightly smaller than the Royal Islander Club La Plage, its sister property across the street, but this time-share resort shares its sibling's beach and other amenities and is a good, quiet choice for families. Suites have fine vistas of the garden, the pool, or the ocean. There are one-, two-, and three-bedroom units. For couples who need a smaller space, a studio (with a kitchenette only) can be created from the two-bedroom units. Furnished with rattan furniture and tile floors, each unit has a fully equipped kitchen and marble-topped bathroom. There's weekly maid service, but for an extra fee the maid will come daily.

Situated right on Great Bay beach and boardwalk and painted an eye-popping shade of coral, this hotel and time-share with studio and one- or two-bedroom units is hard to miss. Balconied rooms boast views of the cruise ships sailing into Great Bay. Each unit has a fully-equipped kitchenette. Restaurants are a brief walk away, as are many souvenir shops and the popular Walter Plantz Square.

The island's largest resort—a no-limit all-inclusive overlooking the bay and close to the airport—is an attractive, reasonably priced, family-friendly property with lots to do. In addition to a big pool area, on-site amenities include a gym, spa, casino, theater, clubs, shops, and restaurants. The beach and additional restaurants are just steps away away. Be sure to check the website for special offers.